By Sally Gracie
The sermon title on the billboard at Friendship Church caught my attention this morning. It was something like “A crisis is an opportunity for change.” Of course. Change can be an “opportunity.” I just wasn’t feeling it today.
I haven’t had any crises to live through this summer, and for that I am grateful. But change (over which I have no control) can sometimes be enough to get me crazy stressed out.
The change of seasons — particularly summer to fall — invariably mucks me up. Through my life, October has become the month when I’m most likely to go round the bend. Maybe it’s the alignment of the planets. It’s most certainly to do with several big personal changes that have happened in Octobers past. It’s not October’s problem, but experience has taught me that the tenth month is the cruelest.
Today, for example. The fog, or inversion, or whatever, lifted, and the blue sky showed through the clouds; sun brightened the golds and reds and browns of the trees. Glorious. And what was I doing? Looking at all the leaves that have fallen. At those strangers with guns and orange vests. Thinking about the coming winter. Snow. Cold. All that time indoors.
Here I was, missing this beautiful fall day. Take a walk. Get over it. And if I can’t carpe this diem, I can try to do better tomorrow. When winter comes, I can read a book and stay in my pajamas all day. Change is an “opportunity.” So the church billboard told me.
I can’t control the change of the seasons. Neither can I control the fact that the house I’ve lived in for 12 years is for sale. I will have to move. A friend has been mired in her own moving adventure through recent weeks, and I may have pulled my own anxiety out of hiding when I’ve heard her stories. Whether I decide to leave the valley or to stay, I can accept the change as my “opportunity” for a fresh start. So the church billboard tells me.
One change that’s been niggling at me a lot is about English grammar. (I’ll lose most of you here, and I’ll confirm that I’m tetched for sure). The almost universal use of “amount of” instead of “number of” has been making me nuts. We measure “amounts;” we count “numbers.” I am sick and tired of hearing “the amount of voters” or “opinions” or “automobiles” coming from the mouths of reporters and broadcasters with advanced degrees from prestigious colleges. English grammar is going you-know-where in a hand basket. I gave up on apostrophes after I had lived in Twisp for a couple of years. Am I now supposed to give up on the correct usage of “number” and “amount?” Where is the “opportunity” here?
I can practice acceptance — of the demise of the English language. I can accept that October will come and go. I can turn the move into an adventure. I can, reluctantly, even accept the amount (sic) of changes that set me off.
I drove back to Winthrop to check the sermon title. The billboard had been changed in the hour since I’d first seen it. Next Sunday’s sermon title is “A single sunbeam can chase away many shadows.” I’ll let you ponder that one.
The Baptists also have a billboard. No sermon topic for next Sunday, but there will be a Harvest Carnival at the Baptist church on Oct. 31 from 6:30 – 8 p.m. A free dinner will be served from 6 – 7 p.m.
